In a traditional mechanical slot machine, a player inserts a coin or token and pulls down on the slot machine handle to initiate the game. Three parallel rotatable reels with an assortment of fruit, number and/or bar symbols are then caused to spin until each reel reaches a resting position. The success or failure of the game is then determined by comparing the combination of reel symbols across a horizontal row with a table of winning combinations posted on the slot machine. To add interest to the game, the basic mechanical slot machine windows are frequently made large enough to show three adjacent symbols on each reel and thereby allow betting involving multiple rows. This betting can take the form, for example, of betting on the combinations formed across the upper horizontal row, middle horizontal row and lower horizontal row. Betting along diagonal lines intersecting these rows is also made possible.
With recent development of electronic technology, there have been many improvements to the basic slot machine. One of these improvements is an electronic slot machine that uses a video display to imitate three parallel rotatable reels, rather than having three actual reels themselves. In operation, the electronic slot machine simulates the rotation of a physical reel on the display, and typically selects the final symbols through use of random numbers generated by a microprocessor. However, in the conventional electronic slot machine, the combination and arrangement of symbols on each reel image are predetermined and fixed. Therefore, it is possible for a player to memorize the arrangement of all or a part of symbols by repeating the game plays with the same slot machine and the monotonous display of symbols of each reel image causes a degradation of entertainment for the slot game.
Another type of a gaming apparatus without mechanical reels is shown in U.S. Patent Publication No. US2007/0298864. In this gaming apparatus, a plurality of symbol display areas is defined as discrete fixed display areas on symbol display portion. When a game is started in response to a bet being operated, symbols to be displayed on the symbol display areas are selected among a plurality of different kinds of symbols. The selected symbols are displayed on the corresponding symbol display areas at once, in random order or in a predetermined order. The symbols are statically displayed on the symbol display without dynamical motion (e.g. spinning) of symbols on the symbol display portion. Therefore, in the gaming apparatus without displaying any reel images in U.S. Patent Publication No. US2007/0298864, slot game entertainment for players is degraded by a lack of rotating symbols on the symbol display portion, and the players have an impression that the game is fully controlled by the gaming apparatus side because any player's operation for stopping each reel rotation is not needed.